Fairy Tales Effect on Children

Once upon a time in a land far away, a young girl named Cinderella lived with her Stepmother and two stepsisters. Although they were exceedingly cruel, Cinderella continued to be as benevolent as a human could be. One night Cinderella had come across a ball that her mother had forbidden her to attend. Her stepsisters tore and ripped her dress that she had made herself, so Cinderella couldn’t attend the ball. After Cinderella’s stepmother and sisters went off to the ball, a fairy godmother had appeared to grant Cinderella’s dreams to attend the ball. There she met a young fellow whom she danced with all night. Little had she known he was the prince who was throwing the ball. At the beginning of the night the fairy godmother had told

The fairy tale helps the child to understand a balance between the good and the evil; it gives him a hope for a good future.” Fairy tales assure the

Fairy tales evolve over time as they are told from generation to generation, regardless if they are passed on by word of mouth or through print. Some have great variations; some are the same except a few mini details. No matter what the differences, they all have the moral in common at the heart of the story. With Cinderella, one learns that despite being unappreciated and doomed to serving others, as long as you are kind natured and a truly good person, your dreams will come true.

In the familiar more traditional version, Cinderella is a poor maid girl that, with the help of fairy godmother, gets a chance to meet prince charming. They fall in love, get married, and live happily ever after, and then what? What is a happily ever after? Is this even a realistic thought? In the dark comedic poem Cinderella, Anne Sexton forces the reader to examine this question. Utilizing literary devices such as tone, imagery, and style, Sexton encourages the reader to think about how silly and unlikely a fairy tale ending actually is.

That is when her fairy godmother appeared to help her out. Yeh-shen, using her magic fishbones to wish her up a Beautiful Dress, and a pair of Golden Slippers, she was ready for the Festival. In Cinderella The Fairy Godmother got her a tinted blue royal dress, which she was ready for the ball. When Cinderella made it, she was greeted to the prince with invited her to dance with him. Yeh-shen got everyone’s attention, including the king, but during a rush, Yeh-shen lost her Golden Slipper. Cinderella, at Midnight she fled the area, and at the entrance lost her glass slipper. The Next day, The Grand Duke when to their homestead to see whose feet fit the Glass Slipper. In Yeh-shen the King put the golden slipper out in public to see who’s feet can fit it. Yeh-shen tried to steal it back, and got caught. The King noticed her feet and try to see if it fit her. It did, making her the Queen. In Cinderella, she was trapped in her room, as the stepsisters tried the glass slipper and attempt to make it fit. With help with her animal friends she got out, the glass slipper broke which, Cinderella proves the Duke by giving her the other slipper. Making her the Bride to the

After the ball Disney ends their story with the prince searching for the maiden who fits the shoe. Cinderella is locked away so she wouldn’t be able to try it on the glass slipper and then is rescued by her furry friends. She then shows that the shoe is indeed hers and she and the prince live happily ever after. In Grimm’s version, although a lot more graphic, we are told that in a desperate attempt to fit the coveted shoe, the step-sisters cut off pieces of their feet and trick the prince until two crows relay him a message exposing their deficit. The crows then pluck out the eyes of the step-sisters and they, along with their black-hearted mother, are left as beggars. Disney’s version doesn’t go into detail about the consequences of the Cinderella’s step relatives.

There are numerous genre’s in literature, but their level of importance and influence on an individual will differ. Exposure to books and stories is especially important for children because it is their opportunity to acclimate themselves to written language, and in turn create their own visuals for the toneless words. Maria Tatar writes, “Why Fairy Tales Matter: The Performative and the Transformative” to demonstrate how fairy tale’s written language can spark a child’s imagination as well as empower them. Through personal insight from distinguished writers— Richard Wright— Tatar builds her argument for the benefits of fairy tales— particularly the violent stories. The writer organizes her essay in a concrete fashion by using each paragraph to build on a proposed idea or to present a belief, but does not use contemporary writers personal anecdotes or heed to her own advice of avoiding childish fairy tales.

What people see is not necessarily all they get; there are more significant aspects that encompass what people use, hear, or see, besides the obvious messages employed throughout popular culture. It is not uncommon to find hidden messages within our culture today, especially in the context of movies. One movie in particular, the newest Cinderella, is full of these hidden messages. Besides the common message that is employed throughout Cinderella over and over again, the message to “have courage and be kind”, there are several hidden meanings that are often not discovered by viewers. These messages include “being a light” when surrounded on all sides by darkness, believing in the unbelievable, recognizing the fact that parent’s greatly influence their children, and seeing that it is okay to want a happily ever after kind of love.

There is nothing more precious and heartwarming than the innocence of a child. The majority of parents in society want to shield children from the bad in life which is appreciated. Within human nature exists desires of inappropriate behavior; envy, deceit, selfishness, revenge, violence, assault and murder. The most well-known fairy tales depict virtue and the evil in life. Even more important, the form and structure of fairy tales suggest images to the child by which he can structure his daydreams and with them give a better direction to his life. (Bettelheim).

The step sisters always picked on Cinderella about how she looked and had to do all the cleaning in the house. One day Cinderella received a text from her secret admirer about coming to his Halloween party but her step mother made her work at the diner to keep her from going to the party. The fairy god mother came to the rescue and dealt with the wicked step mother so Cinderella may go to the party. Cinderella had to be back at the diner by twelve. At the dance she meet her secret admirer but when it became close to twelve Cinderella had to leave. Her secret admirer was looking for the pretty girl he danced with that dropped her phone. Her prince charming finally found her and they were happy (Duff). Cinderella was a good girl but was treated extremely bad by her step family. In the end she became on top with being kind and generous. Cinderella ended up with the diner her father left her that her step mother tried to keep from her

Eventually, it was the two sisters turn to try on the slipper. Both had small feet, but not small enough to fit into the slipper, so they each cut off a piece of their foot in hopes of fitting into the slipper. They almost succeeded too, but the birds from Cinderella’s mother’s grave would tell the messenger the truth, and each sister was sent back home. When messenger returned to the house the prince went with him and he asked Cinderella's father if he had another daughter, Cinderella was called for, and she tried on the slipper which fit her foot perfectly. When the wedding day came the doves that had help Cinderella picked out the stepsisters eyes and blinded them as punishment for their wickedness (J. Grimm and W. Grimm 85-93).

Fairy tales picture a world filled with magic, love and the triumph of the good over the evil. Fairy tales are a window to other worlds where the wildest dreams can come true and the hero always lives happily ever after preferably paired with his loved one. Although some people argue that fairy tales are full of stereotypes, filled with frightening monsters and promote racism and sexism I believe that they are wrong because fairy tales provide valuable moral lessons to children, teach them other countries' cultures promote the imagination and the cognitive development and therefore they should be read to young children.

Fairy tales like Snow White and Cinderella both contain the struggle of good vs. evil. The struggle of good vs evil in these tales teaches us that good always prevails over evil. The fairy tales often times contain common elements that represent good and evil in the story. Both of these tales show the good and evil elements in similar forms. Both tales have the same outcomes where good prevails and they live happily ever after. These tales expose important concepts like good and bad for young readers. Tales such as these two can also teach young readers about good and bad things in life and ways of handling them.

Fairy tales make an important part of cultural prophecy, because they contain wisdom which is passed from parents to their children. They contain basic moral and ethical guidelines for children. Images and symbols used in fairy tales can help to judge about cultural, ethical, social and moral values popular in the contemporary society. Changes and similarities, which can be found in the popular fairy tale Cinderella by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, version of 1812 and the Disney version of Cinderella (2015), can help to realize the changes in cultures and historical epochs.

Cinderella is a fairytale for children that displayed love, loss and miracles; however, when it is further analyzed, it has a deeper meaning. Cinderella is a story about a young girl who became a servant in her own home after her father remarried a malicious woman with two spoiled daughters. She was humiliated and abused yet she remained gentle and kind. She received help from her fairy godmother to go to the prince’s ball after her stepmother rejected her proposal. Cinderella and the Prince fell madly in love but she had to leave at twelve o’clock and forgot to tell him her name but she left her glass slipper behind. He sent his servants to find her and Cinderella was the only maiden in the kingdom to fit into the shoes. She